My driver trainer gets an idling bonus pretty nearly every month. In the time that I've been on her truck, we've been through ID, WY, CO, UT. Only once were we cold enough to idle the truck. Of course, I have a sub Z sleeping bag..

My trainer told me that May figures idling at $1.50/hour. I need to find out more about it. As I understand it, if the idling goes over the 10%/30% rule - you pay them, if it goes under some benchmark (this is what I need to get clarification on) - they pay you. If the weather is really cold, you can message your DM and get a waiver to idle more. I've heard stories where the DM jumped all over a new driver (in a good way) for NOT asking for more idle time because she knew he was in bad weather.

HG

i too got my bouus last month, wifey said it was 77.oo whoo hoo

with the bunk heater the company provides,

WHY WOULD A DRIVER NEED TOO IDLE ?


this is a decent company IMHO.

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If you get charged to idle the truck, then you should own it. No company should charge its driver to idle their own equipment. Thanks for the heads up guys. Kinghunter

You don't get charged for idling your truck you get charged for OVER idling the truck. And in a situation where you were layed over or had to wait to pickup a load that had a delay you simply get a idle override from your dm. I worked their from April 2007 to the end of OCT 2007 and I never payed them a penny for any over idle but they payed me for not excessively idling the truck.

If your truck has a heater you get 30% of engine time for the 6 hottest months and 10% for the 6 coldest months.

My Idle time was between 2% and 6% and my truck did not even have a heater in it so I got 30% year round.

The good old days of 24/7 idling are over people unless your company likes throwing 3 to 4 bucks a hour out the stack when it is not necessary.

I see people idling their trucks all the time at T/S and rest areas when it is not necessary, and if I owned a company and wanted to stay in business I wouldn't allow it either.

Quote:

My trainer told me that May figures idling at $1.50/hour. I need to find out more about it. As I understand it, if the idling goes over the 10%/30% rule - you pay them, if it goes under some benchmark (this is what I need to get clarification on) - they pay you. If the weather is really cold, you can message your DM and get a waiver to idle more. I've heard stories where the DM jumped all over a new driver (in a good way) for NOT asking for more idle time because she knew he was in bad weather. HG

It works like this. (just a hypothetical example) If your truck had lets say 500hrs engine time and you had 0% idle then you would be payed between $75 at 10% and $225 at 30%. The more idle without a need to, the less payed back.

Now you ain't going to get rich, but it's money, and I sure most people like any extra they can get. And you don't have to freeze or roast to get it either. You just have to not be a knucklehead. Only the lazy or clueless should even have to worry about the idle policy at May.

Thanks, Blue. That example helps to clear it up for me.